Saturday, December 31, 2016

The last couple months have been incredibly busy and productive for me on multiple fronts, so I thought I would write up a comprehensive blog about it! :)

More New Art

I've been very busy working on prepping some original wood panels for sale as well as taking a few commissions, fulfilling orders, and trying new things. One of these new things was offering some original lithograph prints with hand-painted, real 24k gold leaf accents. You really have to check out the video to really appreciate it: Video Here. I also have lithographs of it and some other recent art prints for sale as well! If you're interested, please feel free to contact me at kimberly.lecrone@gmail.com. :)

“Sashah's Song” – Mixed Media Sculpture (Work in Progress): I started this sculpture way back in late 2014, and it sat around for the bulk of the year before I got moving again on it in the later half of 2015 and beginning of 2016. It's a sculpture of one of the lead protagonists of my stories, who happens to be a werewolf enchantress. Much like the Yak, this project has encountered numerous technical battles along the way, including not fitting properly in a home oven, which meant I had to build an oven to bake it, so... suffice to say, she has continued to be a labor of love, and I'm really hoping I can finish her off in the near future. :) I figure I'm around 200+ hours in at this point, and there are a lot more photos of her over on my Twitter accounts @KLeCrone and @Vaeflare. To date, this is very possibly the project I'm proudest of so far!

An Upgraded Workshop

Over the last week and many, many hours of hard labor, I spent the bulk of my time inside of my garage in order to clean, organize, donate, sell, and purge items. While I wanted to downsize, the overall goal was for me to reclaim my garage workspace, which had been compromised when my mother moved closer, and thus gave me back the boxes I'd stored in her garage for many years.

I cleared out so much space, in fact, that I was able to install the new workbench and some upgrades I'd gotten from the holidays (or from gift cards)! :)

While I am physically exhausted, I am thrilled beyond belief to see my hard work pay off in such a tangible way! I love how far it's come, and it's not over yet! This will easily allow me enough room to continue my woodworking projects, as well as the molding and casting I want to do in the new year!

Before...

After!

Since I was sharing workspace photos, I figured I would also show you my two other primary workspaces. The first is my art and writing room. The second is my computer area (for general web-browsing, gaming, digital art, scanning, printing, etc.).

My Art and Writing Room

My Multimedia Digital Workstation

My 2016 Year in Review

I hope to have more to report next week, but in the meantime, I'm excited for the prospect of making some real headway with my various projects over the remainder of my holiday vacation (the first half of it was dedicated to family events, the garage overhaul, cleaning, errands, and other busy-work). My 2016 year in review:

The good:

Really felt the self-love this year. This can be a hard one sometimes, especially when I’m not in the shape I want to be in, but I know that who I am is encompassed by so, so much more than that. I tried to be kinder to myself and more realistic with my goals in 2016, and felt that really made me a happier person.

Grew closer to a number of new friends and long-time friends this year. This has made my day-to-day so much richer and more enjoyable. It feels wonderful to be able to talk about “real stuff” with supportive people I feel like I can be myself around.

Hugged my SO even tighter. <3 He is such a wonderful, supportive light in my life.

My mom moved closer, so I get to see her more often, yay!

Donated, purged, and gave away a dramatic number of boxes of stuff I had stored in my mom’s garage (sorry, mom!), as well as a ton of unneeded review items, art supplies, clothes, and more. The heavy downsizing continues!

Felt very happy with my career performance and trajectory this year!

Did a lot, a LOT of Amazon reviews, and learned a TON in the process!

As a fun result of this reviewing, I probably produced more art this year than in any other year to date! I think somewhere in the ballpark of 70 pieces of new art! Having to use so many real media art materials (some of which were…subpar…) for reviews reminded me of how nice and manageable it is to do smaller “bites” of art.

Resumed selling personal art on the side, and managed to have a surprisingly great year of sales too!

Took a number of commissions, and completed all of them within 1 month of when the original order was placed. I managed to walk a careful line between keeping busy, but not becoming overwhelmed.

Finished general outlining my 8 book series!

Swapped gears and finished fine outlining v4 of “new” first book!

Restarted prose for v4 of “new” first book! 25,000+ words in or so!

Learned more about woodworking, and leveled up some necessary skills in that realm!

Went to various conventions to meet up with people and had a great time, but tried to manage my hours and energy level better so as to not get overwhelmed and exhausted.

2016 was one of my healthiest years on record!

Got Contoura Lasik!

Did a massive overhaul on our garage and purged/donated/sold a TON of stuff, opening up a lot of room to rework and upgrade my garage workshop space!

Started ordering molding and casting supplies to move forward into that realm in 2017!

Kept my optimism intact.

Pushed myself to learn new things and experiment!

The not so good:

Lost a kitty (we still miss you, Augie)

Gained some weight. >_>

Had a health scare with my kitty, Opal (she’s okay now).

Had a repetitive stress hand/wrist injury at work, but it’s on the mend now, and at least it’s my left hand!

Didn’t finish my own self-imposed 30-day sketch story challenge, but made it to day 18 or so!

Didn’t finish “Sashah’s Song” sculpture, but hopefully next year!

Admitted temporary defeat on my life-sized hydralisk head sculpture and relegated him to the garage so I could prioritize other projects.

Overall, 2016 was a pretty solid year for me, and I’m really eager to see what 2017 brings personally, professionally, and creatively. :) I’m so thankful for all of your support along the way of this crazy journey called life. <3